Ray: Just wondering why Daniel D. Connor (Mailbox, last Sunday) feels he speaks for “us all”
when he stated that the on-air comments from Common Man and the Torg sicken. I listened to the
show, and thought it was funny. I am part of “us all.” Do not think you are speaking for everyone.

I suggest to him: Hey, no one is forcing you to listen, why subject yourself if you feel it
is so offensive? Just change the channel, like any reasonable person would do.
— Jeneanne Heise, Columbus

Editor: Since it won’t do any good to write to The Dallas Morning News, and ESPN doesn’t want
to hear it, I am writing to complain about ESPN’s decision to switch to the Mississippi
State-Alabama game with less than two minutes to play in the Ohio State-Penn State game.

Their explanation: Since it looks like Ohio State will win this one, we are switching to the
opening of the Alabama game. I remember a time when we we all switched to Heidi. Fortunately, the
outcome was for our Buckeyes, but the Alabama game was also playing on the ESPNU here.

If there is anything that can be done to prevent this in the future, I would appreciate it. I
would hate to have this happen on Nov. 24.
— Bonnie Jonas-Boggioni, Plano, Texas

Ray: I am a 1976 graduate of The Ohio State University. I have lived in Los Angeles for the
last 33.

I watched the OSU vs. Penn State game on TV on Saturday. Boring offense. I thought when Urban
Meyer came here he was going to implement the West Coast wide open type offense and utilize the
talent on offense that Coach Tressel failed to do. "Tressel ball" was boring and he only had 5
plays per game.

Now Coach Meyer comes into the games with five plays. Up the middle, up the middle, up the
middle.

No misdirection plays, no screen passes, no quick square outs to the receivers, no pump and
go passes, etc. It was like watching paint dry on Saturday. What gives? Why do coaches that come to
Ohio State dumb down the offense. I thought this guy from Iowa State is an offensive genius.
Really? I see more creativity in the play calling at pee-wee football games.

How about handing off to Hyde up the middle on the very first play of the game, he runs into
the middle, and then turns and pitches back to Braxton Miller, who throws a long bomb. That's the
play I would run.

We looked terrible in the first half. Dreadful. The big plays we did execute and the mistakes
by Penn State allowed us to score some points, but it could have gone the other direction easily.

When is Coach Meyer going to turn the page in the offensive playbook and run more than five
plays in a game?
— Darryl Geewax, Los Angeles

Editor: I missed the rules memo that requires a Buckeyes football fan to check their free
will at the stadium gate. John Tripp (Mailox, last Sunday) is no “peer” of mine; he is just another
angry man with an angry rant with some very artificial standards.

My peers are steadfast Buckeye fans, win or not win – and with tickets, they arrive and leave
the stadium by their own leave. Some angry fool from Westerville that gets upset about folks
leaving the stadium, is just an angry fool.

You gotta know that many of those fans that leave early just have something else to do. They
have full fan-faith in the Buckeyes; they have not quit on the team.

I’m a Buckeye fan, too. I come to and leave the stadium when I please.

— John Witzel, Upper Arlington

Editor: My wife I attended the OSU-Penn State game last weekend. We have been there before.
The spirit and support provided by fans in the Penn State stadium is unparalleled anywhere,
including our own Ohio Stadium.

However, the noise provided by their loud-speaking system is offensive and, in my opinion,
should be illegal. Producing noise to interfere with the visiting team’s ability to communicate
with each other has become the “thing to do” whether by crowd noise or a mechanical device. Woody
Hayes used to go out on the field asking the home town crowd to be quiet so that visiting teams
could hear their signals. Why – because he felt that if we could not beat the other team on the
field without crowd interference, we did not deserve to win.

Crowd noise is what it is, but using the loudspeaker to create artificial noise while the
team is calling its signals is bush league and should not be permitted.

— Daniel D. Connor, Columbus

Editor: OSU basketball parking rules have changed. We’ve gone to all home men’s basketball
games at the Schott since it opened. A number of seasons, we’ve done men’s hockey and women’s
basketball. We’ve always parked in the same location with no parking violations. Not once.

But after the Walsh game on Tuesday, we returned to the car and had a $50 citation. We’re OK
with paying the fine, but it would have been nice to have been informed that we would be ticketed
this year for parking in that location.

All these years, no problem; new company takes over parking and a $50 problem.
— Doug Snapp, Columbus

Ray: With regards to Bill Rabinowitz's lead article "Over the hump" about OSU's victory over
Penn State, I have to wonder how closely his editor reads his work before publishing it.

At one point he wrote "Penn State drove for a field goal and then had a chance to take the
lead following an ill-advised Miller interception." An ill-advised pass that led to an
interception, perhaps, but I highly doubt anyone advised Miller to throw an interception.
— Mike Frost, Bexley

Editor: I live near Syracuse, N.Y., and subscribe to the BuckeyeXtra email you folks send
out. I grew up in Westerville and went to Ohio State for my undergraduate degree.

BuckeyeXtra makes it easy to follow the Buckeyes. Your reporters and commentators do a really
nice job and I always enjoy reading the articles. Keep up the good work.
— Chuck Rush, Manlius, N.Y.

Ray: Reading the Oct. 25 Dispatch article “Senate readies youth concussion bill,” I was left
wondering how or why Ohio legislators have overlooked the true danger involving our youth playing
full contact football. Granted, concussions can cause “significant, traumatic brain injury” as Tim
Maglione of the Medical Association was quoted as saying; however, the number of actual concussions
that occur on the playing field are relatively insignificant compared to the number of men and
women who play the game during the course of an entire season or career.

The real problem concerning young children playing football is the repetitive shaking of
their brains even though their heads are held securely in place inside a helmet, similar to that of
a bowl of Jell-O. This shaking of the brain occurs on every play, during every practice and in
every game as the players collide into one another as they block or tackle another player. It is
this repetitive shaking of the brain in young players that leads to premature dementia in adults,
even if a player had never sustained a concussion from playing a brutal game that millions of young
children play every year.

In the glory days of boxing, this premature dementia resulting from blows to the head was
referred to as punch-drunk. This syndrome has resulted in the recent suicides of several NFL
players who shot themselves in their chest so as to preserve their brains for research, most
notably Junior Seau just this past May, who had no previously reported history of having sustained
a concussion.

Football is America’s most popular pastime; however, this brutal game is taking its toll on
its players. Last year, PBS aired a documentary concerning this aspect of the game, and after
watching it, my thought was every parent who had a child who played the game should watch the
program and having done so would then think twice before allowing their children to play this very
dangerous sport.